Sunday, June 10, 2007

All's quiet . . . .

I'm not laughing. That's because my cousins are snoozing away in bed upstairs. I am smiling, though, about the fun we've already had. I'm frowning because the rain is coming down in buckets and the mountains are socked in. Tom Sherry said this rain would quit after morning, so I'm holding him to it because I'd like to do a lot of outside laughing today.

Yesterday's visit needed no preliminaries. It started out lively from the minute Patti and Sue drove into the driveway and continued until they finally headed upstairs for bed (Patti took Kiwi with her) around midnight. We sat on the deck and talked. We moved on over to Mother's and talked. We followed Barbara and Laurie down to the barn and talked while dodging horses coming into their stalls for the night.

We then moved back to the Lovestead where I spent an inordinate amount of time calmly following Miss Lily around a field of wet grass while she played keep-away. She hasn't played keep-away with me very often, but she knew I was in a hurry to get ready for dinner at the Landing, so she was going to make me earn every bite.

Patti and Sue watched from the upstairs windows as I would get the halter to the very edge of Lily's muzzle only to have her dash off for another spin around the field. If I hadn't been a bit miffed at her timing, I would have enjoyed the show as much as Patti and Sue did because Lily does cut a gorgeous sight, racing with reckless abandon across that field of green. After about 15 minutes and only after I'd left the pasture, halter in hand, for the second time, Lily finally put her head over the fence and allowed me to catch her. I kept my cool, and we had no bad incidents to regret later.

A quick change into some dry clothes, and it was off to the Landing. We arrived with time to look through the accompanying lodge. Wow! The apartments are beyond beautiful. Patti wanted to see the high-end offering, which goes for $350-plus a night. It's pretty darn nice and huge; I said we could have the Brown family reunion in that alone. I don't know how many rooms it had, but I'm guessing the square feet would have matched that of our entire house.

Dinner at the Landing was a delight, even though we had to wait. We had reservations, but it was graduation night in Sandpoint and the beginning of the summer. So, we waited about half an hour for our table. That was okay, though, because we saw lots of familiar faces there--Ginny and Dave Jensen were heading out while we waited. Tim Cochran also walked by and headed to his table. I had a brief talk with Keith Sheckler who had tried to teach us sailing a few years ago, only to have to pull us back into the dock on the last session, thanks to no wind.

I also had a chance to give a big hug and thank-you to Katie Rogers who just returned from a semester in Italy. She wrote a blurb for the first page of my book, so it was especially good to see her and hear that she had read stories from the book each night while she and her family backpacked in Europe. Katie didn't have long to visit because she's working at the Landing. Another large party of familiar faces sat at a table in one end of the restaurant; they were celebrating Dr. Forrest Bird's 86th birthday.

Finally, a table came open, and the owner Len, who's told us later he's already retired once, led us to a spot by the window. We were glad to be inside because of the rain, but a large group of kids who'd traveled from Aberdeen, Washington, seemed happy to sit outside.

The "killer bread" was, indeed, a scrumptious, melt-in-your-mouth treat, the Pend Oreille wine was perfect and smooth, and our meal of almond chicken and top sirloin were all they've been cooked up to be from prior reviews--wonderfully prepared and nicely served by our waitress.

Later, Len, who says "Glen" runs the lodge, came by to see how we liked our meal. My cousins announced to Len that I was famous and that he'd better buy my book cuz he was gonna show up in my blog. Well, how could Len react to such a threat! He seemed to take it in his stride.

Well, Len is in my blog this morning, and I'd say he's doing a fine job staying on top of all the activity at what will surely be a popular new spot in Sandpoint. I think everyone at our table had a great time, visiting and, yes, laughing. My cousins are just like the restaurant, which continues to receive rave reviews. They're down-to-earth, friendly and outgoing Seattle gals who are lapping up every minute of life on the farms and life in Sandpoint.

And, we're all pleased to have them here. Now, if the rain would cease, we can enjoy another fun day with even more funny-bone exercise.

Happy Sunday.

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